If that doesn't appeal, there's also a Whoopie Pie Stout aged with cocoa nibs and vanilla beans, or Crystal Persuasion, an imperial pale ale made with crystal hops. Those who want a hearty brew might like Box the Compass, which has 9.9 percent alcohol by volume.

These are the clever and enticing names of the first brews to be produced by the SoMe Brewing Co., the first microbewery in southern York County, which officially opened its doors in the past week.

At 33, brewmaster and co-owner Dave Rowland is already a veteran of the craft beer phenomenon. The other owner is his father, a Lake Placid, N.Y., contractor who started making beer when Rowland was a boy.

"I grew up watching my dad make home brew, and I became fascinated with it," he said. "I was fairly young when the craft beer movement started, but I was paying attention because of my dad."

By the time he was in college, "while everyone else was buying six-packs of Bud or Coors, I was the one getting the mixed six-packs of these exotic beers."

His day job out of college was as a high school social studies teacher, "but I began home brewing right off the bat. I started coming up with my own recipes."

Rowland began by brewing "really hoppy beers, experimenting with different kinds of hops. That became my style. I was into insanely more hops. But my wife reeled me back in. She likes stouts, porters, browns. So I started brewing different styles of beers. I really fell in love with it."

He and his wife, Jan, were also falling in love around the same time with York Beach. The two started coming for vacations each summer and liked what they saw.

"We think this is a great place. We love the town, we love the beach, we love everything about it," he said. "Over the years, we said, 'What this place really needs is a brewery.'"

So when Rowland was laid off in 2011 from his job teaching in New Jersey, the couple began to think seriously about what today has become the SoMe Brewing Co. (That's SoMe, for "some" or for Southern Maine — take your pick.)

It became possible "in a bittersweet" sort of way, Rowland said. His mother received an inheritance when her father died and offered to invest in her son's dream.

"She said he would have just offered anyway, so in a way, this is really coming from him," Rowland said.

The couple moved to York earlier this year. Jan is a guidance counselor in the Windham School Department and Rowland is a part-time teacher at the Strafford Learning Center in Somersworth, N.H. — jobs neither intend to be giving up any time soon.

But Rowland's primary job has been getting the brewery ready to open. He was stymied for a while in October, when federal licensing was held up due to the government shutdown. But its doors are now open.

SoMe Brewing Co. has four brews on tap and, within a month, will have two more available.

Microbreweries function differently than other kinds of breweries. They can only brew about 100 gallons at a time and can only operate a "tasting room" that does not serve prepared food. People come in to sample the brews, then buy a 32-ounce or 64-ounce "growler" bottle to take home. Kegs can also be purchased.

Prices for the growlers range from $7 to $11 for 32 ounces, and $13 to $20 for 64 ounces, Rowland said.

Maine's microbrewery law, unlike New Hampshire's, does not mandate the size of the samples that can be served. SoMe Brewing will offer 4-ounce and 14-ounce tasters.

The tasting room seats 30 to 35 people.

"I envision this as a place in York for people to hang out. People like options, and this is another option," Rowland said. "We hope people like it."

SoMe Brewing Co. is open from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday; from 1 to 8 p.m. Saturday; and from 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday.